Acquitted: Former pitcher Roger Clemens, left, and his attorney, Rusty Hardin, last week.

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To use any means clearly not approved in a competition is to gain an unfair advantage. This is called cheating and an ethical failure. Rules can certainly be inappropriate and in need of change, but then change them. Do not condone cheating because you do not like the rule. This commentary gives the tired excuse of blaming the system for the issue and freeing the individual from personal responsibility.

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There are many examples of deleterious effects from steroids, including the recent unfortunate killing of the Greenland, N.H., police chief. The suspect, Cullen Mutrie, had a long history of steroid possession. Mutrie was accused of wounding four drug task force officers and killing the chief during a drug bust at his home. Mutrie apparently committed suicide afterward.

How much evidence does Fost need to realize that steroid use, especially by abusers, can be dangerous? The sad part is that the negative side effects commonly affect others in the community beyond the abuser.

Leonard M. Schwab; Greenland, N.H.

State should not police steroid use

Five years and millions of dollars later, what have we learned from the Roger Clemens trial? Namely that whether or not Clemens lied, the government shouldn't act as league commissioner when it creates and enforces laws.

Steroids were criminalized in 1990 because of congressional disapproval over the effect that they could have on sporting competitions. Absent from that decision was actual evidence of harm. This closed off potentially promising medical research, misused law enforcement resources and turned thousands of Americans into criminals for exercising personal choice over their bodies.

If Major League Baseball doesn't want its players using steroids, it can enforce and punish as it sees fit, but criminalizing a whole host of drugs because of an improper idealization of fairness in sports is not the proper role of the state.

Ben Goldhaber; Arlington, Va.

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